In the apple I have observed leafy shoots bearing terminal tufts of leaves where the flower should have been, so that what, under ordinary circumstances would be a corymb of flowers, is here represented by a series of tufts of leaves. In the cultivated azaleas also, leafy shoots occupying the position of the flower may occasionally be met with. In _Bouchea hyderabadensis_ I have seen the inflorescence more than usually branched and covered with little tufts of bracts, without a trace of true flower. A similar condition seems not infrequent in _Gentiana Amarella_, as I have not only met with the plant myself in this condition, but have been favoured with specimens by Mr. Pamplin, Mr. Darwin, and others. In _Phyteuma spicatum_ an analogous appearance has been recorded. Among Griffith's collections from Affghanistan is a species of willow (_Salix_) in which the inflorescence replaced by a much branched panicle, bearing a quantity of minute bracts, in the axils of which nestle numerous small buds. In another specimen the inflorescence preserves its usual catkin-like shape, but the flowers are replaced by little tufts of leaves. M. Germain de Saint Pierre mentions a case wherein the flowers of _Alisma parnassifolia_ were completely replaced by leaf-buds.[155] [Illustration: FIG. 79.--Spikelets of _Willedenovia_, composed entirely of scales to the exclusion of flowers.] [Illustration: FIG. 80.--Rose Willow, _Salix_, sp.] Here, also, may be mentioned the curious aggregations of scales which occur in some grasses, in _Restiaceae_, _Juncaceae_, and other orders, in which the inflorescence is made up of collections of scales or bracts with no trace of floral structure. Fig. 79 shows this in a species of _Willdenovia_, and a very good example is figured in a bamboo, _Pseudostachyum polymorphum_, by General Munro.[156] "Rose willows" (fig. 80) owe their peculiar appearance to a similar cause, the scales of the catkin being here replaced by closely crowded leaves. These aggregations of scales or leaves are not confined to the inflorescence, but may be found in other parts of the plant, and may be frequently met with in the willow, birch, oak, &c., generally as the result of insect puncture. On the other hand, the production of leaves or leaf-buds in place of flowers is, as is well known, generally the consequence of an excess of nutrition, and of the continuance rather than of the arrest of vegetative development.[157] It has even been asserted that a flower-bud may be transformed into a leaf-bud by removing the pistil at a very early stage of development, but this statement requires further confirmation.[158]